500 Words About - Potpouri

I don’t even know whats on my mind this evening, so this might be a bit of a potpourri post. I’m stressed about deadlines, I don’t actually like the noise they make as they go whooshing by. I’m horribly addicted to a video game about farming and buying peoples love. I’m second-hand sad because a friend had to say good bye to one of his furry family members today. I am trying to stay self-aware about my current and likely future condition so that I can keep things from getting away from me. A pre-emptive bubble bath beats another day like last Wednesday hands-down.

Tomorrow is the State of the Union, and I’m trying to figure out the route through it that will get me to the other side both informed and not overwhelmed. Getting the news after the fact with a lot of extra emotional baggage can be really intense. I suspect that my best course of action might be to watch it so I don’t have to feel the need to hear about it later. I don’t want to do it alone, though. I’ve watched the last couple off and on with co-workers adding commentary about various things but when I asked today, the general consensus I got was that no one wanted to approach it with a 10’ stick, without copious amounts of alcohol.

I’m pretty sure today marks the day my project is officially Past Due. These things happen; estimating time remaining for software projects is fucking hard and I hate it. There’s so much variance between coders, surprise snarls, weather, illness, and who knows what else! It’s still not a great feeling, though. I’ve not been asked to crunch, at least!

During my copious off-hours, many of which are spent sleeping, I’ve been playing Stardew Valley, which is on Steam and PS4, is like $15, and is adorable pixellated crack. It’s one of those games where you pick your head up and say “I’m growing pumpkins so I have some perfect ones to give the tiny fairy spirits so they’ll restore the community center and chase JoJa Cola corporations out of Pelican Town!” It’s a game where every morning my character gets out of bed at 6 AM, goes to gather the chicken eggs and personally hug each avian friend including the evil chicken I’ve recently acquired. Then I head next door to the barn to milk the cows & goats, sheer the sheep, and hug everyone, before going about my day planting and gathering crops, cooking them into more valuable preserved goods, and aging them in my cellar. I’ve recently become rich enough to afford to build a stable and keep a horse, who likely will also need a daily hug for his self-esteem.

The gimmick that keeps getting me is that the in-game clock goes through the day cycle. you need to go to bed by midnight, and there is a save point just before you wake up each morning. So, you’re trying to manage your time and achieve things on a schedule, and you plan things out over the course of days, weeks, or even seasons. “Just one more day and I can plant the tomatoes!” “Just another week and it’ll be Spring and I will have more lumber for pathways!” “Just one more turn, man, please, I NEED IT!”. It’s very evil that way. If you’ve ever gotten stuck in a game of Civilization, it’s a lot like that, except cuter!

A twitter buddy of mine is committing to writing 500 words a day on some topic, and invited others to join her. Feel free to write alongside us, exercise those grammar muscles, and do a little wordsmithing. The hashtag on twitter is #500wordsAbout.